Mass Effect: Dark Stars
"I Own This World..." The low-pitched, guttural voice rumbled as those words slithered out of the maw of the massive , seated in a gigantic throne. He peered out of the large window of his office perched above a mighty tower and looked down at the streets of below. A small stood behind his throne shivering silently at the beasts words. ---- "Uh, of course you do," said the volus. "So why would I need to do anything that you ask of me when I already own everything that you could possibly offer me," replied the yahg. "Lord Vektan, you've been taxing us at an unreasonable rate and now," said the volus. The large throne turned around and the yahg turned to face the volus with it's cold, unblinking eyes. "You are telling me what I have to do," asked the yahg, almost growling. "Uh, sir, I only meant..." whimpered the volus. Before it could finish it's sentence, the yahg picked up the clock on it's desk and hurled it at the volus with enough force to crush it's skull. "No one tells a god what they need to do," grumbles the yahg. He presses a button on his phone and contacts his secretary. "Rhana, would you kindly send in a cleaning crew. Oh, and make an order for a new desk clock, please." ---- Baron Vektan was a rare sight in the galaxy, one of the only yahg which managed to make it off of their homeworld. On Tortuga, Vektan quickly became the dictator of the planet and any pirate gang, mercenary band, or slaver ring based their worked for him. He was using these groups for many purposes, like enforcing his control over Tortuga or doing business with off-worlders but their primary use was to shuttle other yahg from their homeworld of Parnack to Tortuga, where they could stay or choose to migrate to other parts of the galaxy. Taking his people off of their native planet wasn't the only thing he was doing for the yahg either. Atleast 50% of all exporting cargo freighters were delivering technology to Parnack so that his people could learn to integrate the technology into their own civilization. In time, , , and even technology made it's way back to Parnack and the yahg managed to implement most of it effectively. This was all part of his plan to promote galactic domination by the yahg; after all, he considered them superior to anything else that seemed to inhabit every planet, asteroid, and space station around. Not everyone supported Vektan's plans; actually no one did but most people were far too afraid of him and the droves of mercenaries that he commanded to do or say anything about it. The Baron managed to effectively oppress Tortuga completely, controlling the markets, law, and the crime. Despite the dictator's tight stranglehold on the planet, there were those who were prepared to stand against him and his chaotic plot. Chapter I Batha Khensu watched with his cradled in his arms as several other mercenaries herded slaves carrying crates of into the cargo holds of large transport freighters on Maramesu Port. He barked at the batarians to hurry with the cargo, who in turn took out any frustrations they had with Batha on the slaves. Batha turned away for a moment and activated his to relay a message to Boss Hog, a major player for the Baron's drug trade. ---- Batha: "Mr. Hog, preparation of the Red Sand transports is nearly complete. The first shipments should be off-world in the next few minutes." Hog: "That's good, Batha. Hurry with the rest so that Vektan gets off of my back." Batha: "The big man will always find a reason to complain." Hog: "Exactly. Contact me again once the next shipment has made it off-world." ---- Batha turns off his communicator and turns around to finish overseeing the Red Sand, only to see his mercenaries laid out dead on the floor and the slaves gone. "What the hell," shouts Batha as he looks around in confusion and frustration. Had the slaves killed the mercenary guards? No, that's impossible -- they aren't fed enough to have the energy to put up a fight. He walks toward the nearest dead merc with his Firestorm live and ready to spray. As he approached he could only faintly hear the sound of footprints closing in from behind but before he could turn to face the approaching figure, his body froze. He could feel a sharp pain in his back intensify with every second that passed until his legs finally gave out and he tumbled to the ground. He could feel his own blood beginning to pool around him. He saw a pair of feet approaching him, in physiology, and he can see his killer kneel over his body. The turian activated Batha's omni-tool and began downloading the IP address of Boss Hog. As Batha began to struggle to keep his eyes open, the turian's foot moved his head slightly so that he could get a good look at him. The turian peered down at Batha for a few moments with a fairly terrifying glare before taking out his and firing it into Batha's skull. The turian walked toward one of the cargo freighters and waved insides at one of the slaves who, after realizing it was safe, made his way out. "These freighters should get you anywhere you want to go," said the turian before strolling away from the grisly scene. No one knew exactly who this turian was but news of him had been circulating for months. Known only as Rebel, the turian has been a thorn in the side of Vektan since he arrived on Tortuga. He was one of the few figures on Tortuga left who would stand against Vektan, an unlikely character being a former-mercenary and fugitive within .